Effort Value
by Offyerrocker
Summary: A Pokémorph Fic. Team Rocket's Pokémorph experiments are a success. Following three kids and their individual stories in this Pokémorph fanfic. Rated T for language. Keywords: Pokémorph, Pokemorph, Eevee, Pikachu.
1. For Hire

**1- For Hire**

Tick, tick, tick.

Somewhere in Azalea Town…

A clock in the Pokémon Center's guest room slowly counted out the seconds… the minutes… the hours…

Tick, tick, tick.

The clock, located on a Pokétch on the table in the room clicked slowly, the hour hand inching its way towards the 10 on the second hand, and the 11…

Tick, tick, tick.

Another clock simultaneously aligned, this one electronic, displayed the seconds with equally agonizing slowness…

11:58.

11:59.

12:00.

Tick, tick, tick.

The clock pulsed, and a face appeared in the window; a man wearing the traditional black costume, adorning a large capital red "R", opened the window silently, and loaded a dart into a straw. He took careful aim, and shot it at the girl's arm; the girl flinched and stirred, but by that time, the man was gone, and the only evidence was the dart in the girl's arm. But by the time she woke, in about seven hours, the dart would have dissolved into her bloodstream.

Already a mile away, the man checked his map; he had 2 more targets left to hit. It did not matter who the victims were or what happened to them afterwards; the only thing that mattered to him was that he had been paid the handsome sum of 1,500,000 PokéYen had been paid to his private account, and he would be paid that amount once more upon completion of the three jobs, when he reported back to his client. Who his client was, what he did, the man did not know or care. All that mattered was the money, and when tomorrow came, the money would come, and the man would be that much happier. But now was not time to think about that. Focus on the mission.

The man slipped through another window, loaded another dart, and took careful aim once more. In a few hours, he would be ¥3,000,000 richer.


	2. Good Morning but Too Late

2- Good Morning… Too Late

6:58…

6:59…

7:00.

The radio clock buzzed, turning on the radio, and tuned to a news report.

"-at 7:00. Reports continue of Team Rocket's illegal DNA experiments on lab Rattatas. According to-"

The radio was painfully loud, and my hand slammed down on the "Off" button. My ears still buzzed painfully with the loud report, and I instinctively reached up to my head to grab them. My hands did not find them. Higher, up to the top of my head, and I felt an unfamiliar shape on my head. I ran to the bathroom, clutching my clothes in one hand and ears in another. There: in the mirror, two brown fuzzy ears protruded from my head. I nearly screamed. I touched them- I could feel my ears with my own two hands, and I could feel my hands with my own two ears. I snapped in front of them; the sound was louder than it would have been I had had normal ears. These were undeniably and inexplicably attached to my head. I shrieked; Here were two ears attached to me, replacing my old ones…

_Calm down, Sarah._ I thought. _First… which Pokémon's ears are they_? _These ears were undoubtedly a Pokémon's ears, but which one?_

I thought through the list of brown Pokémon I knew with these ears.

_Chimchar? No. Furret? No. Sentret? Teddiursa? Ursaring? Vulpix? No, no, no. None of those… Think! Think! _

_Eevee. _

I had Eevee ears?

I was freaking out. Hyperventilating. Panicking. My mind raced, and I started to back towards the bed.

_How was this happening, why was this happening, would this wear off, would I become a full Eevee? This is so unreal, like a bad sci-fi movie, or a bad dream… I think Pokémon are cute, but I don't want to be one! _

I clutched my head- a migraine was coming on.

I backed into the bed's edge behind, and something hurt. I turned to see a big brown tail, tipped with a cream color behind me, waving around with a mind of its own.

I screamed, and the combined intensity of the pain I felt in the tail, the loudness of the scream ringing in my ears, the migraine, and the mere shock of these new events made the world turn and fade, falling to the carpeted floor.

---

Something was making an incessant ringing noise. It was loud. Very loud, to Sarah's ears.

_Ring, ring._

_ Go away._

_ Ring, ring._

_ Too loud._

_ Ring, ring. _

_Ring, ring._

I sat bolt upright. My PokéNav was ringing, and I dug in my pocket to find it. It was Whitney, my friend the Gym Leader from Goldenrod City. I answered it.

"Hello?"

"Sarah? Sarah!" Whitney's voice was panicky and dismayed.

"What? What is it?" I cried.

"It's Team Rocket! They've invaded Goldenrod! They're taking all the Pokémon… demanding to talk to you!"

"What?!"

"They're looking for you!"

"Why would they want that?"

"I don't know! But they have an army of grunts and Pokémon! They're easy to take on individually, but as a group… We can't do it! They're overwhelming us!"

"Alright, I'm coming! Stay put, and hide everyone you can in your gym."

"Okay… I'll try…"

I hung up. So then… why were they looking for me? _Hmm, _said a sarcastic voice in my head. _Maybe it was because of one of the twelve times I destroyed, sabotaged, corrupted, defeated or generally wrecked their base… in seven different locations… _

Team Rocket generally pisses me off… so when they come to Goldenrod city expecting- _demanding_-that I come, they either have a thousand grunts ready to fight me, or it was a trap. Which is why I was going to walk straight into the city full of Rockets to save Whitney, as well as the rest of Goldenrod City. And if I survived, confront them at their not-so-hidden base in the Goldenrod Game Corner.

Yeah… that's me. The little twerp who messes up every plot to rule the world, to terrorize the people, to steal the Pokémon, to destroy stuff… that's me. The annoying 15-year old girl with the team of Pokémon who's guaranteed to screw you up if you do anything remotely troublesome… I have a reputation among most teams for that. And among the people…? Nope. Almost no recognition. And-

Crap! I'd gotten sidetracked… who knows how much time left before Team Rocket gets impatient…

I looked around. _What am I doing on the floor?I fainted… from… a dream? What a crazy dream._ I felt on top of my head, and almost fainted again when I felt them, still there.

Oh. Crap. I took a deep breath.

Okay. First things first… How am I going to hide these ears and tail? Answer? Oversize drawstring hoodie-the hood covers the ears, the oversized-ness covers my…tail…

_This is going to be a long, long day._


	3. GoldenRocket City

**3- GoldenRocket City**

I walked in through the entrance to the city, at the end of Route 35 and looked around.

Goldenrod city was empty. It couldn't have been more deserted if a tumbleweed had rolled around in the silence. Doors closed and locked, windows shut and curtains drawn. Not a face in sight. I walked slowly to the gym… the door was slightly ajar.

At this point, alarms went off. I had told Whitney to get everyone inside the gym… and the gym's door was the only one open. Trying to think ahead, I released Dugtrio from an PokéBall on my belt. It was the weakest Pokémon in my party, but at level 40, it could still take on most trainers in a one-on-one. I knew that Ground types had a type advantage over Poison-Types… and Team Rocket mainly utilized Poison-types.

I cautiously opened the gym door. Nobody in sight. Just the usual flower boxes…I turned to leave, and a rustling caught my…ears, and I whipped around. A face poked out from behind a box near the end of the room. I recognized it as Whitney's. She rushed out, and I ran forward.

"Sarah!" she cried.

"Whitney?" I noticed that her eyes were red, and I saw tear tracks on her face, and I realized that she'd been crying. "Whitney, what's the matter?"

She wailed, and then she started sobbing into my sweatshirt.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I had to, I didn't want to, honest! I didn't mean to! But they got Cleffy! I'm sorry!" she sobbed.

"Whitney, why are you sorry? What happened?"

Whitney wailed again, this time louder.

"Shh, shhh… It's gonna be fine… now what happened?" I asked in as soothing a voice as I could muster. This seemed to calm her down a bit. Dugtrio tensed, but I didn't notice-I was too busy with the situation at hand.

"Rockets… came… and they took Cleffy… my Clefairy… My poor little Cleffy, and they…" she babbled, and she broke down again, her knees giving way to exhaustion and grief.

"I'm sorry… I'm sorry…" was all she could say.

You don't have to be sorry, I was about to say, but a familiarly loud and annoying, tune sprang up.

"Prepare for trouble…"

"And make it double."

I groaned. "Bloody hell…"

"To protect the world from devastation," cried Jessie.

"To unite all people within our nation," chanted James.

"Shut-UP!" I growled. They looked startled.

"But we're not finished yet, twerp!"

"I don't have time for this kind of crap. Dugtrio… Earth Power.

"Wait! We can go away!" cried Meowth.

"Too late." Dugtrio obliged to my request, and the only evidence that they had ever been there was a fast fading echo (… blastin' off agaiiiin…), a twinkle in the sky, and a huge pillar of rock jutting out from the ground. I sighed. Team Rocket must have a really defunct budget.

"Sarah!" Hearing Whitney's voice, I spun around just in time to see my attacker and a Gengar's Lick coming. I remembered the Pokédex entry for Lick: the tongue paralyzes everything it touches. Right before the Gengar's tongue crashed into my legs, torso and arms. Unable to support myself, I crashed into the ground. I could only move my head (What a fat lot of good that did), and, my eyes being part of my head, I recognized the attacker's face. Naturally, my mouth was part of my head as well, and so I spat a barrage of curses at the person.

"Lance! You two-faced bastard!" The man, a Rocket Admin, smiled evilly with what appeared to be satisfaction.

"Tsk, tsk… Foul language never solved anything… and with _your_ capture, it'll be Executive…"

"Dugtrio!" I called, and a brown mound of dirt with eyes and a nose fell besides me, unconscious.

"KO'd," he said. He laughed, and I would have socked him in the face, but I still couldn't move.

Lance (not to be confused with the Champion of Johto) had worked "with" me on several occasions, and at the end, revealed himself to be working for Team Rocket as a double agent, intent on stealing my Pokémon at the end. He blasted off with Jessie, James, and Meowth instead. Apparently he wanted revenge.

Lance gestured, and two Rocket grunts came out, netted me like a catch of Krabbies, and dragged me away, presumably to a waiting vehicle, to take me back to their base.

"A job well done. Target paralyzed and helpless, and I'm in control…" He peered up through the hole in the ceiling. "…and those three bumbling idiots out of my way."

Behind him, Whitney still sobbed, and Lance turned around to face her.

"Oh, shut up and stop crying!" he shouted, and threw an occupied Pokéball at her, and she hugged it tightly, now silent, rocking back and forth. Then she looked at me, remembered her apparent betrayal, and she started crying again, sobbing again, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't want to, I'm sorry…" Poor Whitney… Poor Cleffy… Poor me.

The Rocket grunts started to drag me away, but I started to gain back some control; Gengar's Lick had not been completely efficient. I started to fight back, and one of the grunts yelled in pain. I tried to scramble out of the net, but I was completely entangled. I grabbed a ball on my belt, and released Scyther. Perfect for the job, wouldn't you say?

"Scyther! Cut me free!"

"Scy! Scyther!" There was a green and white streak, and I was free. Lance pulled a radio from his belt and called for backup. I ran from the gym, and Scyther followed. There was now a squad of Rocket grunts following me. _Crap. I have to find some cover._

Scyther at my side, I ran down a wide street, down to Radio Tower. Buena, the radio station host, would hide me.

A few of the Rocket members saw me and called the alert. And so I ran. And ran. And ran.


	4. Wild Zangoose Chase

**4- Wild Zangoose Chase**

"Hey! There she is! She's going into the Radio Tower!" a Rocket Grunt behind me yelled. _Well, now I'm not._ I thought.

Choice #2: The Game Corner.

Choice #3: Bill's House.

Choice #4: to the Goldenrod Department Store.

Well, The Game Corner is Team Rocket's base. So that's a no. Bill's house: He's not very good at battling; he's more of a college guy. So no. If I got caught, he wouldn't be able to do anything about it. The Goldenrod Department Store: Floors and floors of places to hide. That would be "yes." Beckoning to Scyther, I ran, altering my path to direct myself towards the Department Store. I jumped onto a dumpster, leaped over a wall and caught onto a roof ledge, which I pulled myself onto to avoid detection.

_I should join the Parkour Club._ Now feeling rather overconfident, I tried to jump to the next roof and failed miserably, instead landing on an old discarded mattress.

_Scratch that. Chansey's Luck Club instead._ Very convenient. But I'd have to watch my confidence in the future-it almost got me killed.

By now, I knew that the store was close enough for a final 100-meter dash. The colors in my vision ran as I sprinted faster than ever, running on adrenaline.

_Left Right Straight Right Straight Left Right Left STOP!_ My sneakers screeched to a halt, and I, looking as calm as I could, opened the door to the Department Center and went to the Clothing Department floor, followed by Scyther. In the now Slugma-slow environment, I realized that I was panting, and so was Scyther. I decided to give him a break, and returned him to his Pokéball. The door opened, and I found some clothes that fit, scraped out enough money to pay for it, and hid in the dressing room. A moment later, a couple of Rocket Grunts burst, panting, from the stairwell door. _Oops,_ I thought. _It seemed that _someone _*cough cough* had pressed the emergency stop button on the elevator._

"Did you see," I heard one of them pant to a store worker. The Rocket Grunt coughed, and resumed: "Did you see a girl pass through here? She was wearing a brown hoodie… brown hair... about this high…" He showed the worker his estimate of my height. _Oh, don't tell him, lady… don't you say it… don't tell him, he's a Rocket!_

They talked, and although I couldn't hear, I saw the worker show them the door, presumably saying something stern. _Yes! Way to go, lady!_ I thought. The store worker turned towards the dressing room and walked, straight to where I was, in my little stall. My heart sank. _What's going on now? _She walked towards the stall and unlocked it with a key she wore around her neck. Without saying anything, and without hesitation, she grabbed my arm. I struggled against her grip.

"Hey! What are you doing? Let me go! I haven't done anything wrong!"

The woman faltered, and in that brief instant I pushed free and ran to the stairs. I worked out quickly what had happened: Team Rocket had infiltrated the department store, and this woman had probably tried to shoo away the others to get the credit for herself. I ran up to the stairwell door, and looked down. Two stories below me, a group of Rockets clambered up the stairs. One looked up and pointed, yelling something indistinct. I ran up the stairs, and through a random corridor on the landing above. I needed an idea, fast. _Think. Come on, think. _I thought. _You've been through this countless times before…_ I thought of a similar experience about a year ago. Someone had surprised me from above, jumping down from a rooftop nearly onto me. _Nobody ever looks up,_ he said.

I looked up. There was a grate on the ceiling. I jumped to grab onto it and waited. A herd of Rocket Grunts thundered by, yelling. I dropped down and went the opposite direction, only to run into a guard posted at the entrance of the corridor. He screamed the alarm, and I aimed a kick at stomach, but I always aim a bit high. He doubled over. _Oops. Oh, well, at least he's incapacitated… _I heard a rumbling noise, and turned to see the herd of Rocket Grunts charging towards me.

I looked up.

_Are you having fun yet, Arceus?_


	5. Pick on Someone Your Own Size

**(A/N) **

**Offyerrocker:** Hey readers! Please Read and Review… Thanks a bunch to those who have, it means a lot to me. So this story will not sit here with four chapters, waiting an eternity for an update, like many of the other *possibly great* Fanfics. That's always annoying. I know that because the entire story is written out on paper, and I just have to convert it to a digital format. It's not real fast, but there's no other way, really… Also, I ran out of space on the notebook, because the story takes up 42 pages… and counting… in my history notebook… :P

Anyways… explaining some key points here.

Sarah's tail is hidden by the hoodie's back, which is way oversized. WAY oversized. It barely fits her.

I would have uploaded the whole story, but it takes too long, and I realized that the original plot in the original story made… little to no sense. So I made up this new beginning on the spot… chapters 1-4.

I updated the part in Chapter 3 about Lance; apparently it got left out somehow. Sorry, people. But now it's updated, so READ IT. NOW.

I like the Pokémon Eevee and the name Sarah. Deal with it.

**Michael:** Enough chatting already! You're cheating these poor people a good (I hope it's good) story! And when are you going to introduce me in the story? I want my fifteen minutes of fame!

**Sarah:** Yeah! And when do I get to take this dumb tail off? It's annoying! And it has a mind of its own!

**Tail: **SILENCE, FOOL!

**Offyerrocker:** Quiet, you! And you! I'll introduce you later! And Sarah, you can't take that off yet! That's the story right now! And if the story wasn't here you would CEASE TO EXIST!

**Sarah:** o.0 Let's get on with the story, shall we?

**Offyerrocker:** Agreed. (Nothing a few more years of therapy won't help…)

**Michael: **[Whispering] 20,000 Pokéyen says he'll need more than 10 years, plus additional meds.

**Sarah: **[Whispering] You're on. But make it 50,000.

**Offyerrocker: **QUIET!

* * *

**5- Pick On Someone Your Own Size**

I watched as the herd (you can't call them anything else, really) thundered towards me. _This day just gets better and better._

I looked down. The guard was still rolling around on the floor in apparent agony. I took the opportunity to take some of his belongings before fleeing. There were three corridors here: one of them, I came through at first, one of them was full of Rocket grunts, and one of them was where I was currently fleeing in. With dread, I realized that it might not lead to an exit. All the signs saying "Emergency Exit" or "Fire Exit" were pointing in the direction opposite me.

With no other choice but forward, I kept running. It was Goldenrod outside, all over again. _Screech._ Dead end; I had come to an empty but spacious room. Perhaps it was a storeroom once.

_ Oh, come on! Seriously?! Ah, well… no use going out without a fight. _I turned around and released my six Pokémon: Meganium, Poliwrath, Xatu, Magcargo, Vulpix (the only unevolved Pokémon in my Party.) and Magneton. (Scyther was too tired to fight.) They looked around, apparently wondering what they were doing out all at the same time, and why their friend (NOT master; I'm never a Pokémon's master. Just their friend) smelled odd. Within a few seconds, the Rocket Grunts had arrived, ready to fight. I grimaced. _This isn't going to be a fair battle. This is going to be a slaughter. With me on the losing end._

I cursed silently. _Trapped like a Rattata… _I thought. _Or an Eevee, _the sarcastic voice said again. _But you'd have to be an idiot to laugh at a joke like that. But oh, what irony._

"Trapped like an Eevee." I heard one of the Grunts snicker. I rolled my eyes. Apparently the guy thought he was being witty.

Fortunately, I had prepared some combinations, especially for battles involving more than two Pokémon. The fact that all of "my" Pokémon were out only made this easier. I had them work in pairs for this to work.

For example… I took aim at a particularly reckless Grunt who was leading the charge. Poliwrath's Rain Dance, while enhancing Water-type moves such as Hydro Pump and Surf, also made Magneton's Thunder 100% accurate. (Magneton also had Rain Dance, just in case.) The Grunt I was aiming at, as well as the three around him, were shocked into unconsciousness, and I smiled at the effectiveness at this combo. _And here comes Combo #2._ I thought.

Magcargo and Xatu. While Magcargo's Earthquake hit most of the Grunts and their Pokémon, Flying-type Xatu's Psychic attacks neutralized the Rockets' specialty Poison-types, and its Flying-type made it invulnerable to Ground-type attacks.

…and that brings us to Meganium and Vulpix. Not only does my Grass-type cover most of Vulpix's weaknesses, its moveset included Solarbeam and Mega Drain, giving it a (nearly) endless supply of energy. Vulpix knew Sunny Day, which powered up its Fire-type moves as well as speeding up the charge rate of Meganium's Solarbeam.

I looked on in satisfaction. I didn't need to command my friends; they could actually operate on their own, being given beforehand training.

Someone must have realized that this trio of duos was too efficient and decided to root out the problem at the source, because I found myself cornered by six Rocket Grunts, attempting to actually take _me _out. Fat chance. _Whump. _Blow to the stomach. Knocked out. Grunt #2 approached me. _Whump. _Grunt #2 down. Kicked the three of the others before recognizing the sixth. It was the guard. He took a fighting stance, grinning with anticipation. Behind him, the Pokémon raged, taking out Zubats and Grimer with machine precision. I got into a countering stance and prepared to fight. He struck so fast I almost fell right then and there. I only barely managed to move aside- he had thrown a punch aimed at my throat. Had I not moved out of the way in time, he would have struck accurately, instead hitting my shoulder. I roundhouse kicked him in the stomach; he should have fallen down . But he didn't. He simply grinned. I knew then that he way beyond me. I had no chance. Not a Glalie's chance in Hell.

The fight itself lasted less than a minute; I moved a bit too slowly once, just once, and he hooked a vicious shot into my neck. I fell, and I saw that behind him, sheer numbers of Zubats and Grimer had won; my team was defeated. I recalled them, barely able to move. The guard looked down on me and kicked me in the gut. I doubled over, and he laughed triumphantly.

"Not yet." I whispered, and released another Magneton, aiming towards the ceiling. The lights went out from Magneton's sudden exposure to electricity and energy. The guy who made the "smart" remark stood in front of me, barring the way.

"Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to rest in a Pokéball like the rest of them," I moaned. I was practically asleep standing up at this point. I was so tired. So very, very tired. But the two men trapping me in the empty room grinned.

"We can arrange that."

_Deep, deep shit._


	6. Congrats You Caught Something

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Oh hai!

**Sarah: **Say it right.

**Offyerrocker: **[sigh] Fine. Oh, hi! These are the Author's Notes for Chapter 6 of Effort Value. Please note that this Pokémorph Fic does not follow the rules of Poké's MUSH rules. No, I just wanted to make a story following the rules how I THINK they should be made. Anyways, if you're wondering how the name is relevant to this story… wait and see. If you're wondering what Effort Value _is_, they're the strength/exp points awarded to a Pokémon for ACTUALLY BATTLING. If they level up by Rare Candies or Daycare, or something else, it won't be as effective as battling for real. This means that a Pokémon who leveled up with Effort Value will be, undoubtedly, stronger than one who levels up with Rare Candies, Exp. Share, Daycare, non-battling methods, etc. (Pokérus is a virus that doubles earned Effort Value points.) I chose the name because it's unique, and the commonly used abbreviation of Effort Value is… EV. Eevee. Get it?

**Sarah:** You thought of that on the spot, you didn't plan it!

**Offyerrocker: **Well it was an original title.

**Sarah: **_Was. _I would know,

**Michael: **And when will you introduce me already?

**Offyerrocker: **In about three chapters.

**Michael: **Fine. I'll hold you to your word… I'll be in my trailer if you need me.

**Offyerrocker: **… o.o

…Okay then… So if you have any questions or comments but not flames about Effort Value, feel free to PM or Review this story!!! Thanks!

-Offyerrocker  


* * *

**6- Congratulations! You Caught A… Something…**

"We can arrange that."

"Hey… yeah! Why don't we catch her like a normal Pokémon?" the ambitious Grunt asked. The man paused. "Grunt, that is the smartest idea I've heard you say yet." The two men grinned. One held a Pokéball and a Great Ball and the other, an Ultra Ball and a Net Ball.

"Hey, Zela, don't we need to weaken it?" The "witty" Grunt asked. I gritted my teeth.

_I am not an "it," _I thought._ I am a "she."_

"Nah, it's already weak enough." Zela replied. (Apparently, that was his name.)

"Alright then… Net Ball! Go!"

The blue and green ball sped toward me, and I panicked. I kicked it in midair, and it exploded. The man only smiled.

"Pokéball!" He tossed the ball, and I kicked it again with the same result. The other man threw the Great Ball and the Ultra Ball together. Boom. Congratulations, you've wasted: 10 Rocket Grunts, 12 hours, and 2,200 Poké¥ worth of Pokéballs.

But the men only smiled. Zela pulled out a purple Pokéball with pink spots on the side, not dissimilar to the red patches on the side of a Tentacool.

"The Boss told me to use this in case of an emergency," he said with an evil grin.

He prepared it, changing it from pocket size to baseball size, ready to catch, as I looked on in horror.

"Master ball… Go!"

I turned to run, and the Ball hit me in between the shoulder blades. A flash of red light enveloped me, the world disappeared, and I realized that I had been caught.

* * *

The Master Ball rocked three times, but the two Rocket members knew that the effort to escape was futile; Master Balls could not be evaded, escaped, or destroyed. The button on the Master Ball pulsed red, and the Ball stopped shaking. Zela grinned. This would definitely get him promoted.

* * *

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Sorry for the short chapter. And to the subscribers, the multiple "New Chapter" Messages. But there was some stuff that went wrong, and I had to re-upload the chapter in order to fix it. But that's why today I'm uploading two chapters to make up for it. (Or more.)

**Zela: **Hey! Wait a minute! Why in Hell did you name me "Zela!?" It sounds like a girl's name! A RETARDED girl's name!

**Offyerrocker: **Well, it's only fitting. You are the bad guy.

**Zela: **EMPHASIS ON THE "GUY!"

**Offyerrocker: **Too bad. I AM YOUR MASTER! I CREATED YOU!

**Zela: **Mewtwo was created by Giovanni, and he escaped, destroying a lot of stuff and almost killing Giovanni, too. Hint hint. [Growl]

**Offyerrocker: **Erm… I… have to go… uh… SEEYA BYE! Stay tuned!

-Offyerrocker

[runs away from Zela and angry readers]


	7. Too Late

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Oh, hai!

**Sarah: **Ahem.

**Offyerrocker: **OH. HI. (Are you happy now?) Well, as you may have noticed by now, I update my stories about once or twice a DAY. Not week. DAY. D-A—

**Sarah: **We heard you the FIRST time. You don't have to spell it. We can read.

**Offyerrocker: **Well of course! I wrote you that way! And if I couldn't read, weed' have teribl spelign misstakes.

**Sarah: **[rolls eyes] Dear Arceus… Hey, where's Michael?

**Offyerrocker:** He's in his "trailer," remember?

**Sarah:** Sulking in the bathroom?

**Offyerrocker:** Yep.

Anyways, ON WITH THE SHOW!!!

* * *

**7- Too Late**

_Dark… confined… so dark and confined… I couldn't remember anything… Heartbeat. I can hear my heartbeat. But it's so loud I can't hear anything else…_

I wracked my brain. _What had happened? _I couldn't think. _Arceus… it's so cramped…_ It was solitary confinement for a week, and it lasted forever.

There was a blinding red flash, and I found myself sitting on the floor of what appeared to be a cement prison cell, with several men standing outside the bars of my door. I blinked; the light was intense, and in addition to all sound being amplified, it now hurt to keep my eyes open. My eyes were unfocused; I felt like I had just woken up. My clothes were in tatters, sitting beside me in a heap, and I realized that I was naked. Unfortunately, I was too busy blinking confusedly to think about anything else. I heard voices but could not make sense of them. It was gibberish to me. I had no intention of getting stuck in that purple, spherical nightmare again, and I tried to get up, but I fell- pathetically -sideways.

I looked around again. There were two men and one woman in the room. One man dressed in a standard white doctor's coat was writing on a clipboard. The other two were staring at me as if I was an animal at the zoo.

The man with the clipboard spoke.

"Test Subject 3141-133 is awake. Subject, unlike pure, natural Pokémon, appears to be disoriented after release from the Master Ball." I couldn't help but think, _Well, duh!_

"It is unclear if this is the result of the human DNA still active interfering with the release, the first time in a Pokéball, or if it is a side effect of the Master Ball."

I blinked again, ad my vision cleared a bit.

The second man spoke.

"Completely awake now. Subject 3141-133: You are in a lab dedicated to the study of post-birth genetic modification… more specifically-" I cut him off.

"My name isn't 'Subject 3141-133'… it's Sarah! I have a name! I'm a person! NOT a _thing_!" He glared at me.

"Don't make me recall you…" I shuddered at the thought of this threat, and fell silent. "As I was saying… more specifically, manipulation of DNA on a subatomic level and intentional mutation. Besides… Rattatas don't need names." He laughed, and I felt an overpowering urge to punch him in the face.

"Oh, really? And, if you intend to study me, which you obviously do, then how are you going to explain my disappearance? People don't just vanish."

"Of course they do… and you were last seen exploring an 'Employees Only' section in a store. You vanished into thin air a week ago. Your Pokémon were found at home; it appears that they never left. And during this past week, we've been developing some new… "Potions"… and we've been dying to test them out. One of them is the cause of your misery…" _Meaning, the thing that disfigured me._ "…One of them is the end of your misery…" _Meaning, the cure… _"…And the third… well, that's what we'll be testing, so I wouldn't want to tell you, would I?" _Meaning, something that'll probably kill me._

"Don't be so cryptic! What is it? What-" And then I remembered some clues. _When I had woken up, Whitney had called, saying that Team Rocket was demanding to look for me. They lured me out of the safety of the Pokémon Center at Azalea Town, and into the middle of their base! The smart aleck from the Goldenrod Department Store chase had said, "Trapped like an Eevee." So he, as well as the rest of the Rockets, knew that I had been forcibly mutated! And nobody else knew, not even Whitney, so, in addition, they must have been the cause of this… atrocity! They were responsible for this!_

"HEY! What did you do!?"

"I'm sorry?" The man looked amused.

"What did you do to me!?"

"Oh, that! You're quite slow. It was simple, really… just a couple of drops of… 'Potion…' in the bloodstream, and it works like magic, within seven hours. To put it simply, a protein attached to the liquid in the 'Potion' guides it to the heart, where a virus modeled with the infective capabilities of Pokérus replicates it to be pumped out to different areas, selected beforehand and guided by a different protein. The affected areas' DNA is coated with a sort of cement, which overwrites the DNA in that particular part. The body would normally reject and eventually destroy the new limbs. Actually, you were lucky enough to be chosen and paired with this particularly… striking… and benign combination."

"'Benign!?' I HAVE A TAIL COMING OUT OF MY SPINE, AND FURRY EARS THAT STICK OUT OF MY SKULL!"

"Well… some people had a less fortunate… or effective…combination. For example, a few people had Magikarp's lungs, but not its gills, or vice versa. Needless to say, they could not survive."

"That's- You're _HORRIBLE!_"

"I get that a lot," he said, shrugging. "But now I must continue. So, your bod y will reject these new changes. You will either change slightly to adapt, or completely reconfigure."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you'd better start learning a new language. And I don't mean Spanish."

I gaped in horror.

_This is terrible…_ I thought. _Unless I get that antidote potion, I would either become full Eevee, or and half-human half-Eevee FREAK. But what if it's already…_

"By the way, the reason I use the word "cement" is because the formula hardens and becomes permanent after a period of about… say… two to six days. Oops! I'm afraid you've gone over the deadline. And we have some new tests for you, concerning the being of Pokémorphs in general. Well, see you tomorrow! That's when the tests begin. With that, he walked away from my secluded enclosure.

"No! Hey! Come back! Get back here and fix this! Fix me!" I cried.

The girl in the cell started sobbing hopelessly.

_A job well done, _he thought. _Now, she won't even resist or try to escape, or steal the antidote. Or, much more importantly, the mutagen… Which took _one week to one month to become permanent. The man laughed. A job well done, indeed.


	8. Lab Rattata and Escape

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Oh hai!

**Sarah: **[Huff]

**Offyerrocker: **Welcome to Chapter 8 of Effort Value. About Michael… I'm not sure whether to include him into this chapter or wait for the next… because in the original hard copy, he's introduced about 4 chapters later.

**Michael: **HEY! Put me in NOW!

**Offyerrocker:** Hmmm…

**Sarah: **Put him in! It's getting boring and lonely with just me…

**Michael: **Put me in!

**Offyerrocker: **Hmmm…

**Sarah: **I say you should.

**Michael: **And so do I.

**Offyerrocker: **Hmmm…

**Sarah: **That comes to a vote of 2-1, in favor of putting him in now. Majority rules, we win! Put Michael in!

**Offyerrocker: **Hmmm… You know what? I guess I should wait another chapter.

**Michael: **OH, COME ON! You know what? I'll be in-

**Sarah: **[sarcastic] -the bathroom if we need you.

**Michael: **[Sulks]

**Offyerrocker:** Oh, well. Here's the story…

Random note: Sarah's subject number from the Rocket lab is 3141-133. 3141 is pi. I memorize π(pi). So it's a reference. The -133 comes from the Kanto Pokédex: 133 is Eevee's number from the Kanto Pokédex, demonstrating her link with it. (I love Eevees.)

* * *

** 8- Lab Rattata **and **Escape**

Sleep. Black darkness. Dark blackness. … I dreamt that I had never woken up with these ears, that nothing bad had really happened. I was busy admiring the empty space in the mirror where my brown fuzzy ears should have been, admiring the fact that nothing was there but my normal ears in their normal respective spots, when something touched my side. I looked; nothing was there.

Something prodded my side again.

Prod. Prod.

The dream blackened, and I opened my eyes to see a Rocket Grunt staring down at me, prodding me with a baton to wake me up, a fresh set of prison clothes to wear.

"Get up."

"Why?"

"Because I told you to. Someone wants to see you."

"No. I'm not getting up." He pressed turned a dial on the baton, and tapped my with it. A surge of electricity jolted me out of my cot, and I fell. He was about to jab me again when I stood up as quickly as I could. Those things hurt. I changed quickly.

"That was only the lowest setting, so you'd better keep moving." He herded me down a passage, and into a room. It was white and bare, except for a mirror wall (which people were behind, I was sure) and something not unlike a giant, transparent telephone booth. I turned to ask the Grunt what I was doing here, and I saw the door shut seamlessly but not soundlessly into the wall. If I hadn't seen the door close, I would've thought that it was a door-less room. Apparently there was an intercom system in the room, because a voice, the voice of the woman from yesterday, boomed over the intercom.

"3141-133. This is the Test Center. Here, you will be subjected to several… relatively harmless… procedures involving or related to our studies."

"Typical. Rocket Labs. Tests. What did I expect?" I muttered under my breath.

"You will come here every day for six months. After six months, you will either be released, due to the temporary nature of our studies, or you will remain here for other tests, for another six month period," she continued. My heart sank. How could I possibly last six months in this hellhole?

"As of the present, this test is genetic sampling. Please step inside." I looked at the booth. There was a person-sized gap, which I assumed that I was supposed to step in. I looked directly at the one-way mirror and shook my head.

"I'm not helping you." I said firmly. The door on the side of the wall opened, and two Grunts with the evil electrical batons entered. They swung at me, trying to knock me down. Duck, weave, dodge the batons. One finally made contact, and I fell to the floor, gasping. _This is pathetic._ I thought. I jumped back up before they could hit me again, and kicked them. They doubled over, like the other guards. _That seems to be a universal weakness for the male Grunts… _I thought with a chuckle. The two defeated Grunts staggered back to the door, and a different man came out. I grabbed one of the batons the Grunts had left behind from the floor, intending to break the machine and defend myself from the new threat. I recognized the man. The scientist, from yesterday, stepped inside, holding a trio of vials in one hand.

"Stop right there, or I break your precious machine!" I yelled, fully intending to escape then and there. But the man just glared at me.

"You're in no position to bargain." _What a clichéd line. _

"Oh, yeah? Should I break this then?"

"Go ahead. Should I break these vials? I thought these might mean something to you…"

"What is that?" I asked, suddenly alarmed.

"They're the cure, the mutagen, and… something else. We can make another machine… but you will never rebuild your humanity without these." He swished around the contents of the vials. They glowed sapphire blue, emerald green, and an ugly blood red.

"Give those to me."

"Or what? You'll hit me? If you do, then these delicate little formulas will break…"

"Give them to me!" I demanded. He appeared to think for a moment.

"Hmmm…. No. Go ahead and break that." He nodded towards the machine. "I'll just break these, then." He prepared to smash them against the floor.

"No! Wait!" I cried. I looked at the floor, and dropped the baton. "Don't break them. I'll cooperate," I muttered bitterly, defeated. _Another cliché._

The man put the vials back into a pocket into his vest.

"Very good. Now step into the machine…"

Several mechanical arms put a metal bracelet on my ankle, and I stepped inside the small, booth-like machine. A red light formed into a line and scanned my entire body. I shifted uncomfortably; my tail (which I had managed to forget until now) was slightly cramped.

"You may step out now."

"Can I leave now, then?"

"…No. We are not finished."

"'We'?"

"The other members of the Rocket Science Division. But it does not concern you. Please step to the center of the room." I did as I was told.

"We will now scan your brain and your mind."

"Aren't they the same thing? And how are you going to do that?"

"Simple." A Hypno stepped through the door, and my heart sank even lower. "Hypno, Psychic." Pain shot through my head, and I cried out.

"You… said this would be… harmless!" I said between clenched teeth.

"Harmless… not painless. Physically, you are fine."

The woman watched the girl through the one-way glass. The girl doubled over, writhing in pain on the floor. The woman was not concerned. In fact, she was rather amused. This was only the first round, and the day was far from over.

_Four weeks later…_

"Breakfast!" came the warden's call. The girl didn't answer. She lay on the bed in her cell, unmoving.

The warden shook his head. She was broken. Just like the other 3140 subject…

Sometimes, he thought that these experiments went a bit too far. But then he got his paycheck (with an added bonus) and all was well. Nobody in Team Rocket was sentimental enough to actually help the prisoners in any way other than hitting them a little softer than usual. And even then, only a little bit softer.

He knocked gently on the bars. Still she lay in a comatose position. He shook his head, tutting.

It had been four weeks since she woke up; the tests were extraordinarily painful. But there was no use, wasting anesthetic on an already doomed subject. At the end of the first week she tried to escape, twice. Directly after that, she had tried to commit suicide three times, the first with a carefully sharpened spoon, the second with bed sheets tied to make a noose, and the third, knocking her head against the wall. Before the end of the second week, she had stopped eating, and she had to be subdued in order to enter an IV drip into her arm. Even with four Rocket members, each of them had assorted injuries; She fought like a wild Tauros. And still, the tests continued, longer and more painful than before. And then she had simply… stopped. She had stopped living. She was alive, not dead, not brain-dead, but all of the life had gone out of her. As the woman had said, physically, she was fine. But she was broken. It had been four months since she had last been given food, and since she had not been disobedient since then (easy, she didn't move at all), then she would try out food again.

The warden sighed audibly and stepped inside the cell. He set the tray down on a table and closed the door behind him.

"Breakfast," he said again. He shook her gently. Nothing. He shook her again.

Suddenly her arm shot out, her eyes wide with desperation and fear.

"What-" he started, and reached for his gun-

-And the girl, in one, fluid motion, rolled out of bed, wrenched the warden's arm around, and slammed him into the concrete wall. Blood flowed from his nose, and he slumped to the ground, unconscious. She grabbed the gun from his coat and shot the security camera watching. She had jammed it, but she shot it just to be sure.

The television, being watched by Zela, died.

Off camera, Sarah pocketed the gun, opened the door, ignoring the key card panel beside it, and ran out.

Back in the room with the television, three admins conversed.

"I'll deal with her," one said.

"Wait… I want to see what she does. Don't kill her. Just get her at the entrance. Have some fun with her first, bruise her up a bit." The admin got up and departed for the entrance to cut the escaped prisoner off.

I burst through the door of my cell and into the hall. A Rocket saw me and yelled, "Hey! Get back here!" I kept running. He radioed, "Subject escaping in the west wing!"

_Wait, how did he know… oh, right. Duh. Ears, tail. I can't forget about that…_

Solution? Run.

A Grunt stepped in front of me, attempting to be brave.

"Stop right th- ugh!"

I socked him, and he fell. I sprinted down the corridor. My vision was a blur. It was the Goldenrod chase all over again.

And then a familiarly ugly face emerged. It was the guard.

"Zela!" I snarled. "You again! Out of my way!"

"No… you'd best reconsider." He produced three vials, and I halted.

"Still want these, freak?"

"Give me those!" I grabbed for them, and he moved away. Behind him, I could see the exit.

"In case you haven't realized, your capture promoted me to Admin. And you should know what these are… although I'm not telling you which is which."

"What is it? What is the third one!?" I cried, stepping closer to try to take it.

That was a mistake. I let down my guard. His hand was a blur; he hit me hard in the stomach, and my breath rushed out of me. His other hand still held the vials, and I tried to grab them again. He kicked me in the ribs, and I fell. Still I tried, and I felt his foot mark another bruise in my ribs. _It seems that I've been on the ground a lot recently… _ I thought.

"Having fun?" he taunted, leaning over me.

My foot shot up and caught him in the universal male weakness. He doubled over, and I laughed, "Yep. You?"

He rolled backwards into a standing fighting stance, but his face was still purple.

I slowly stood up.

"I will be…" By now he had fully recovered, and he reached into his jacket. He put away the vials, and his hand came out with several Pokéballs instead.

"I always wanted to have a rematch with you…"

"But I don't have any Pokémon." I stared at him

"Well then, freak… You'll have to do." He released Hitmonlee and Machamp.

_Fighting types, _I thought. _Those were both fighting types. Eevee is Normal type… and Fighting types are super-effective against Normal-types. So assuming I take the place of an Eevee… I'm screwed. Fucked. Boned. Doomed. Not a Glalie's chance in Hell… _

"Hitmonlee! Rolling Kick! Machamp! Seismic Toss!" The two Pokémon advanced, eager to oblige. I know they were eager because I understood them.

_ATTACK! _They cried.

Hitmonlee was a brown streak. Its legs twisted and curled, hitting me hard. This was one of the reasons I tried not to fight with Pokémon too often (But I did anyways… Being near jerks like Team Cipher and Team Snagem did that to you.); it hurt a lot.

Instinctively, I curled into a ball, and I recognized it as a move. Defense Curl. _Great, _I thought. _My first move is the fetal position._ I couldn't see, but I felt Machamp pick me up like a feather (albeit, a furry one), and hurled me into a wall. The wall cracked, leaving a person-sized indent. I stayed in my little ball, aching all over. _Almost over…_

"Hitmonlee! Hi Jump Kick! Machamp! Cross Chop!" Two super powerful moves. I was definitely going to die. Knowing this, I preferred to stay inside my Defense Curl. Two merciless rock hard hands crashed down on my back, and Hitmonlee followed up by jumping up and kicking me into the wall (again). I uncurled. I wasn't going out without a fight.

I tackled Machamp. He flew into Hitmonlee, and they crashed into the floor, unmoving. KO'd in one hit; I recognized the move.

"Bide!?" Admin Zela cried.

"And… here's Take Down." And I rammed him with the last of my strength. He slumped, and three vials and a needle rolled out. I scrabbled for them. _The blue one is the cure… right? _

"It takes about 28 days to become permanent. But I'll never tell you which one… which one is it…" he coughed, and then he cackled, and blood frothed from the corners of his mouth.

"Which one is it?"

"Tick tock, you've probably only got a few minutes…"

"What?"

"The scientist lied… to break your spirit. One month… is the deadline, not one week…"

"What!? Which one is the cure? Which one? Tell me!" I screamed.

"Maybe a minute… could be red and blue or red and green or blue and green or all or none…" He laughed insanely, and blood flowed from his mouth. _Which one? And what is the third vial? _I thought.

"30 seconds…"

"Tell me!"

"26…"

"TELL ME NOW!"

"20…"

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?"

"15…"

"TELL ME NOW, YOU BASTARD!" I screamed, punching him in the face.

"Ten seconds. 10…9…8…"

Frantically, I put the blue vial into the syringe, fumbling with the cap, found a vein, and injected myself.

"Ha… hahaha…"

"What? WHAT?!"

"You… chose… wrong."

"There she is!" a cry from the other end of the passage rang out, and I turned. A mess of Rockets massed on the opposite side.

"Hold it!" I pulled out the gun and jammed it in Zela's throat. His eyes widened.

"Do as she says!" he cried.

* * *

The two remaining admins watched, eyes impassive, with Giovanni through a security camera as the girl backed out of the door, her eyes wild, with the gun pointed at Zela's throat, and an arm around him.

"She can't drag him forever…" Admin 1 remarked.

"She wouldn't dare shoot." Admin 2 replied.

"Of course she would! Don't you remember the last admin?" said Giovanni.

The second admin fell silent.

"We'll catch her… fetch her Master ball."

* * *

_ Almost there._ I still walked slowly backwards. From across the passage, three dozen Rocket Members leveled weapons at me.

"Drop the weapons!" I barked, and the Rockets did so.

"Release the Admin," a cold voice commanded. It was the woman from the testing room. She held the Master ball that captured me in one hand. She raised it to recall me, and I broke away and ran, leaving the gun behind. Two empty vials and a used needle clattered behind me, landing next to the tattered shreds of what used to be my brown Eevee hoodie. I was now exposed. Bolts of red light escaped from the purple nightmare and hit the stunned admin, doing nothing at all. I staggered out the door, finding myself in the empty Ex-Galactic Warehouse (now occupied by Team Rocket). It was in Veilstone City. Veilstone City is in Sinnoh…! _I'm in… Sinnoh? _I thought, dazed. I looked down; my clothes were dirty and blackened, my hair was grimy, and strands hung across my face. Tear tracks cut paths through the dirt on my face. Blood dripped down most of me. I felt terrible. Only one place to go, then…

I staggered towards the red roof marked Pokémon Center. I had to get there, quickly. To safety. To Sanctuary.

Admin Zela looked over the tape. It showed Sarah's brief escape-at least the parts that she hadn't wiped. She had hacked into it and looped a video or most of it. Zela had searched the cell; he found his credit card, hidden in the doorjamb, a GameBoy Color (which she had used to hack into the camera with), wire, pliers, two screwdrivers, a wrench, and a sandwich.

Subject 3141-133 had inserted the credit card into the doorjamb, above the lock; when the warden had finally opened the door, the card had slid down and prevented the bolt from locking the door again. She had used the wrench and the screwdrivers to help take down the warden when he arrived, as well as tools.

If only she had joined… she was much more efficient than two platoons of Rocket Grunts.

Zela shook his head. _Nevermind; Subject 3142-25 would arrive soon._

_

* * *

  
_

Thirteen hundred kilometers away, in Hoenn, a 16-year-old boy named Michael woke, sat up, felt furry yellow ears on his head and a tail at the end of his spine, and screamed.

* * *

**(A/N) **

**Offyerrocker: **HAI! HAPPEE TANKSGIVING!

…took me a while to write this. And guess who's being introduced next chapter?

Hint… Michael… #25.

Please R&R!

-Offyerrocker


	9. Joy To The World

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Oh hai!

**Michael: **5…4…3…2…1…

**Sarah: **WHY IS IT THAT YOU ALWAYS SAY THAT SAME STUPID LINE! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY! SPELL IT RIGHT, FOR ARCEUS' SAKE! YOU'RE A GOOD AUTHOR, YOU'VE WRITTEN A STORY EVERYONE LIKES, SO USE PROPER SPELLING!

**Offyerrocker:**…that was a run-on sentence…

**Sarah:** ARGH!!!

**Michael:**…okay… So I herd u liek introducin meh to da story?

**Offyerrocker:** Well u herd rite. Also, Sarah, you shouldn't be here. You're half-dead from exhaustion.

**Sarah:** BRAAAAAAINS! Is that better?

**Michael: **[snicker]

**Offyerrocker:** If you don't stop I'll give you fur.

**Sarah:** Okay, okay, I'll stop. Sheesh.

**Offyerrocker:** Thank you. Readers, please note that this next part takes place from Nurse Joy's POV, but is in 3rd person.

* * *

** 9- Joy To The World**

A girl burst through the door; she wore a brown hoodie and a pair of beat-up jeans, both of which had bullet holes scattered around the cloth. Actually, 'fell through the door' was more accurate; the doors opened, and she collapsed on the floor.

"Oh, my…! Are you okay?" The girl gave no response.

"Chansey!" Nurse Joy called.

"Chanse?" The egg Pokémon arrived, Nurse's hat on.

"Chansey, grab a stretcher and carry this poor girl to the emergency care room!" Nurse Joy majored in Pokémon Medicine, but it was obvious that this girl needed help.

"Chansey! Chansey Chan!" cried Chansey, and carried her away.

Nurse Joy rushed to tend to her. She could already see many bruises, scratches, bleeding wounds, and other assorted injuries. Her skin was pale; it looked like she was going into shock.

Nurse Joy began to undress the poor girl, in order to treat her. She started with the sweatshirt, taking the hood off.

At first, she that an Eevee had been sleeping in the girl's hood. But there was no Eevee anywhere, just a set of ears. Joy tentatively touched them. They were soft and furry and brown, exactly like those you would find on an actual Eevee. Joy frowned. She traced her finger down the length of the brown fur, where her brown hair parted, and they fused seamlessly with her head. Underneath the girl, something equally brown and furry poked out. Joy had no doubt that this was a tail. She let out a small gasp, so soft that only she should have been able to hear it. But apparently, the girl did (How couldn't she?

Her ears twitched, and she stirred. Suddenly, her eyelids snapped open, and half-fell, half-rolled off of the table, holding her side. She was scared- no, petrified. It was horribly clear that this girl- whoever she was, had gone through something life-scarring.

The girl landed on her back and scrabbled backwards, like a Krabby. There was a wild look in her eyes; they darted back and forth, scanning the room. She pressed her back against a corner and swiped at Joy when she tried to get close.

"Please…" Nurse Joy pleaded. "You're injured…"

The girl continued to swipe at imaginary enemies, and made no sign that she had understood or even heard Joy. She looked almost… feral. She looked more like a cornered wild Pokémon than a girl. Confused, scared…

Lost…

Nurse Joy shook her head, turning away.

"Chansey! Please come here."

"Chansey?" Chansey came back, poking her head around the corner.

"Please use Sing for this girl… she needs to be sedated. She's refusing treatment," Joy explained.

"Chansey!"

"Bring me when she is sedated."

"Chan-sey!" The Pokémon confirmed, and she waited for her colleague to leave the room before beginning to Sing in a melodious, echoic voice that resonated through the girl's ears. Her eyelids drooped, and she struggled against sleep. Eventually, she stopped struggling and slumped into a deep sleep. Chansey stopped singing and checked that the girl was asleep. She was, and Chansey left to fetch Nurse Joy.

Nurse Joy entered, saw the girl, and placed her in the plastic incubators commonly seen in Pokémon Centers (for Pokémon, of course).

Nurse Joy carefully replaced the dressings on the five-inch-deep cut on her calf. It was a deep cut; it would take significantly larger to heal. Joy could see that it had been inflicted by a Psychic-type Pokémon. She set the girl down on the bed.

Joy sighed sadly.

"Poor baby…" She stroked the girl's head softly. "You've been through some much recently… I can tell." After undressing her in order to repair the clothes (and the girl) Joy had found a wallet with I.D. inside. Her name was Sarah. She was 16, and she was from Johto. But that wasn't all that Joy had found. She had also found a badge case and opened it. She gasped; she had never seen so many badges at the same time in her life! Gym Badges from Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, the Orange Islands, Holon, Orre, Fiore (she had been the main cause of the downfall of Teams Snagem and Cipher), Almia, and a half dozen more that she had never heard of.

There was one badge missing; Giovanni's. He had been in hiding for a while. He had connections to Team Rocket, but there wasn't enough hard evidence to jail him. (Just like Al Capone.) Her disappearance was on the news; Somebody with that many badges and that much experience was not without fame. (However, Sarah had tried hard to avoid the limelight.) She had last been seen in the Goldenrod Department Store one month enough reminiscing, Sarah needed rest. Joy took one last look at her serenely sleeping form and left, closing the door silently behind her.

* * *

_Sarah floated in a void. She could hear a soft feminine voice whispering something, but could not discern its meaning or owner. She looked down; land was far below her. She floated gently down, like a Hoppip on a breeze. The forest was miles below her, but she touched down instantly, as such was the nature of dreams. She looked around. This was no forest she knew of. The familiar weights on her tailbone and head were gone. She was normal. A certain weight was gone, too- not from physical existence, but from her mind. No longer a freak. She was normal. A sense of relief flooded through her, because she knew that she felt for the unwanted limbs, she would not find them. _

_ A boy appeared a few meters in front of her. She did not know him, but made out a tall figure, brown hair, and serious eyes. She noticed that his expression was sad. His eyes imploring. Then he turned, and, with the kind of stamina and speed available only in dreams (or was it?), disappeared into the forest. _

_ She followed him. Maybe he knew a way out of the forest. Left, right, left, right, right-Arceus, he had good reflexes… He stopped in a clearing. She stopped and almost ran into him. Regaining her composure, she reached out to tap him on the shoulder. He turned, and suddenly, his body melded and reformed to a Pikachu's, and then, to an Eevee's. It happened so quickly that by the time she tapped him on the shoulder, he had already become an Eevee. Somehow, she sensed that she shouldn't make contact with him, and she tried to recoil, but her hand brushed his shoulder. Once again, the familiar weights were back, and the Eevee stared at her._

_ The trees all around her moved. They surrounded her, closing all paths and exits. Each of them whispered, planting their seeds of doubt and deceit inside her heart, and the noise, although far from noisy, grated painfully at her ears. Each voice, laden with hatred, poked at her insecurities._

_ "You'll never belong…"_

_ "…are you?"_

_ 'Freak!"_

_At once, all of the trees chanted. _

_ "Freak!"_

_ "Freak!"_

_ "Freak!"_

_ "You're nothing but a freak…"_

_ "Freak!"_

_ "…a mutant…"_

_ "Freak!" _

_ "Neither one nor another, trapped between worlds…"_

_ The Eevee leaped into her, as if it was exempt from the laws of physical reality (of course, it was- it was a dream.), and the trees grew, framed against the dark void of the sky._

_ Sarah shrank. Fur grew from her neck, and spread down her body like a plague. He hands and legs and arms and feet melted and disappeared, shifting and cracking to become.. paws. Her clothes billowed over her, and she emerged from the pile with a brown furry head, white mane, tail… Here, forming, in her own head, was her own private Hell. _

_ She tried to scream, to call for help, but she was no longer in any physical way human, and, however hard she tried, could not make any sound more than a sad, frightened, "Veee!" She looked down- No, no, no, this wasn't possible… _

_ One of the trees stepped forward, and a face appeared. It was Admin Zela. His face fused to become half Giovanni and half Zela, and it chased her around the suddenly empty forest, holding a Master Ball, screaming, "We're not done yet… come back! There are still so much, so many more tests. Come closer… closer, and we will give you a box, a dark box full of sharp objects or you to play with…"_

_ You can't run, scream, move, think in a nightmare. You can only wait. And so Sarah waited desperately for Hell to end._

_

* * *

  
_

I woke and sat up quickly. Sweat beaded on my forehead. I checked myself; ears, tail, all still here. I looked around. _I'm not in my bed, or in my room. So where am I? _

Pulling out of bed, I noticed a familiar brown bundle on the table in front of me. Attached to it was a note.

_Sarah- fixed your clothes. Food is in the kitchen. Help yourself. At a meeting. Back at 14:00. _

_ -Nurse Joy of Veilstone City_

My stomach growled, and I realized that I _was_ hungry. I hadn't eaten since…

A series of images flashed through my head:

_A cluster of bleeding cuts on my wrist, made by a meticulously sharpened spoon. _

_Three Rockets and a doctor approaching with a sedative in a hypothermic needle._

_A clear plastic bag attached to a series of tubes, feeding into my arm- an IV feed._

I hadn't eaten since last month.

After eating a Snorlax's worth of food, I trudged downstairs to the guest den and turned on the T.V., plunking down on the comfy sofa.

The news was on. A story about a 16-year-old girl. She was reported missing a month ago… And a month later, she was still missing.

_This is familiar… _

Her gear was found at her own house, along with her Pokémon. But nobody had made the connection between Team Rocket's raid and my disappearance.

I spent the rest of the day researching my disappearance on T.V., and when the news went off air, I used the computer. There was already an article about me on the computer's browser page. I grimaced.

_ Nurse Joy knows who I am. I'll have to disappear from here by 14:00. For her safety and mine. _

I had a place in mind: Celestic Town. The people there were friendly. Pack by 13:00, leave by 13:30.

I grimaced again.

_It's a long, long road to Celestic Town._

* * *

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker: **Oh hai! I hope u had a happy Thanksgiving. Or, if you don't celebrate it, I hope you had a nice weekend. So sorry I couldn't update… working on this relatively long chapter. Next one coming up soon.

Thanks!

-Offyerrocker


	10. A New Horror Every Day

**(A/N) **

**Offyerrocker:** Oh hai! AND DON'T SAY IT.

**Sarah:** Why-

**Offyerrocker: **Ahem.

**Sarah:** [grumble]

**Offyerrocker:** Anyways, you're probably wondering about the third kid mentioned in the description?

Yeah… I'll introduce the third kid soon. But the aforementioned person needs a name, personality, morph species, gender, and… generally… everything. Suggestions appreciated. But I might have something in mind for the new character. Also, sorry about the lack of activity for a while… my sickness and Thanksgiving all took a LOT of my time.

**Sarah: **You're just being lazy.

**Offyerrocker:** My threat of fur still stands. Besides, you are literally me. Sarah. That's me.

**Sarah: **No you're n-

**Offyerrocker: **Fur.

**Sarah:** [Makes zipping motion across mouth]

**Offyerrocker:** That's better.

**Michael:** Hey, why are these Author's Notes written in script form? And where are the actual notes? All I see are pointless arguments written for the Author's amusement.

**Offyerrocker: **The fur threat goes for you, too.

**Michael: **I mean, Happy Birthday!!

**Offyerrocker: **Much, much better.

So sorry, again, for not updating. Final are this week… *sigh!* But anyways. I made some minor updates to this story.

So yeah. Minor changes.

**Sarah:** You know, you have to lower your standards… a chapter/update every day will not be easy for you.

**Offyerrocker:** Why thank you, figment of my imagination.

Read and Review PLZPLZPLZPLZ! Constructive criticism… needed! A LOT!

Also, my Microsoft Word (and MacBook Pro) have gone slightly crazy, resulting in annoying but persistent grammatical/spelling errors. For example, my keyboard doesn't work. At all. So I need to use an externally attached keyboard. Well anyway here's the next chapter of Effort Value!

* * *

** 10-A New Horror Every Day**

In the Verdanturf Pokémon Center, Hoenn.

Michael screamed. Two yellow ears replaced his human ones, protruding from his skull, and a tail came from underneath him. His unfamiliar limbs ached; his sensitive new ears nearly burst following his initial outburst of horror, and he sat on his tail, causing himself intense pain. He sat on his bed, numb and stunned, for several minutes, attempting in vain to absorb these new occurrences. After a while, he got over the shock, and gingerly and nervously walked to the Pokémon Center's guest bathroom, covering his new limbs like an embarrassed child.

He looked into the mirror anxiously. There they were: two Pikachu ears, complete with black tips and inner ear functioning, and behind him, a Pikachu's brown and yellow lightning-bolt tail. An unfamiliar muscle twitched, and his tail jumped. He cried out, from shock rather than pain. What had happened? He felt his ears and…twitchy, yellow piece of bone and fur… to make sure they were still there. Yep. Still there. He pinched himself. Ow. He lightly slapped himself in the cheek. His reflection mimicked him. He was awake. This was real. These things were real, but they weren't his. They were from the DNA of a Pokémon. A Pikachu.

_Somewhere in the world, a Pikachu has really, really ugly ears and no tail, _he thought, and he, despite himself, smiled briefly. It vanished quickly, though.

_ Maybe it was something I did. What was I doing yesterday? Looking for some girl… To talk to her. But I never got far. I didn't even do anything, really. Nothing odd, no random injections, no strange food or pills. Nothing that would cause this. _He thought harder. _Maybe… it has something to do with that puncture mark that appeared last month… but no, that was probably a mosquito bite. Oh, shit! What is that!?_ Michael lifted his shirt and looked behind him. There, above the spot where his tail merged with his spine (!): two brown stripes presented themselves as birthmarks. So it wasn't just skin-deep…

_ Calm down. You will be fine, _he told himself. _Now you'll just have to learn to cope for the time being. It's not really that bad, is it? Take a deep breath._

He took a deep breath.

And fainted clean away.

* * *

_ "You can stay as long as you'd like."_

That was what Celestic Town's Nurse Joy had said to me yesterday. After arriving approximately 18 hours later and 80 kilometers away, I arrived, utterly exhausted, at Celestic Town's Pokémon Center. Although the Nurse Joy there was kind and helpful (who wasn't? Gringy City's, probably.), Unable to appreciate the situation, I had checked in and instantly fallen asleep on the couch.

I looked around. I was sitting on the couch in Celestic Town's Pokémon Center, true enough. Thick, warm blankets covered me. Cozy.

Uh oh. What time was it? I checked my wrist- oh, right. Team Rocket took my equipment… Damn them. Profanity (in my thoughts, at least) had increased, along with my problems. And this was definitely not your everyday situation. But no, I'd been over that before. Pokétch, Pokégear, Backpack, all of it. I checked the clock on the wall next to me: 14:43. Shit! I'd slept in! I should be searching for a cure right now! Untangling myself from the comfortable covers, I stumbled to the main lobby, tripping over my tail and falling pathetically to the floor. I turned around. Swishing around behind me with a mind of its own was that damn useless brown puffball of a tail. It never did anything useful-why did I even have it? It-

I froze.

It was out in the open-my hoodie was gone. Oh, shit.

I looked around. There were some sleeping trainers, slumped in chairs. Damn. Close call. Dear Arceus, that made my heart stop… I relaxed. Knowing that nobody has seen me. Still, I hurried to the bathroom- every second out here was another chance to screw up and expose myself. I locked the door and looked in the mirror, intending to brush my teeth and shower, beginning my daily morning ritual. Instead, I stared into the mirror, not wanting to believe what I saw.

_Every day is a new start, a new chance to be horrified at your drastic change in appearance. _

"No," I whispered, mortified. There, around my neck, I could see the beginning of an Eevee's mane. I steadied myself on the counter; Fine white fur emerged from my neck. I mean, having a tail and a set of ears that wasn't yours was bad enough, but a mane? That was going to be hard. Very, very hard. And it wasn't as if I had experienced enough bad stuff recently. But this new thing… Oh, boy.  
A normal person would not easily notice, but it had a separate and horrifying meaning for me. The mutation was progressing.

My mind drifted back to the nightmare scene when I escaped from the headquarters. Zela's grinning, bloodied face, cackling.

_"You… chose… wrong." Had I injected myself with the wrong serum? Or was Zela playing at psychological warfare?_

_Or was I really wrong?_

I broke away from the mirror's gaze and turned.

_ Man, I have had some really bad luck with mirrors and appearances lately._

The extra appendages were out in the open. I really had to be more careful. Tucking my tail carefully under my oversized sweatshirt, behind my back, and putting my hood on, I stepped confidently out to the main lobby again. I signed out on the clipboard on the counter and stepped out the door. I knew someone who worked at the Moomoo Milk Restaurant above Solaceon. But it was almost as long… I looked around. There was an unchained bike nearby… and it _was _an emergency...

I looked around for its owner. Nothing.

I walked casually towards the bike, apologizing mentally for what I was about to do.

* * *

_What a dream. _Michael thought as he slowly became conscious.

_But why am I asleep on the floor?_

_ …Or… did I faint? Yes. I fainted, didn't I? Hmm…_

It was unlike Michael to faint under normal conditions. But in times of urgency… (If this wasn't urgency, he didn't know what was)… well, this was definitely not normal.

He sat up and looked around. He was on the floor, where he fainted. _Right after… aw, crap. _

He stood, rubbing his head.

_Not a dream. Gee, thank my lucky stars it wasn't a Muk instead._ Supporting himself on the counter, he walked over to his bedroom and pulled out some clothes. _I can't go around looking like this…_ He pulled out a black beanie and put it on. It sufficiently covered his ears. Then he rummaged around in the closet for something that would hide his tail. _My tail. What an odd phrase. _Surprisingly, he was not too shocked after he had woken up. Thinking relatively clearer. Nothing was broken, he wasn't acting like a Pikachu (Thank Arceus!) and there was nothing he couldn't hide. He pondered his curiously calm state of mind while pulling on a sweatshirt. It was large enough to conceal his tail (_That still sounds odd_), but it was yellow. And right now, yellow was not exactly his favorite color…

He shook his head. _DNA Crisis, tail, ears, fur, and I'm worrying about my dislike of yellow… There are more important things to do. Why would I think that?_

Clearing his mind of all irrelevant things, Michael set off towards the Game Corner in Mauville. Rocket Base? You betcha. He disliked them, but they were the only ones who publicly did anything remotely related to this. Illegal Rattata experiments were irrelevant. Not important, compared to this. He would pay them to remove these if he had to.


	11. Report

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker:** Oh hai!

…

**Michael:** … Sarah? That's your cue…

**Offyerrocker:** She's not here. She's in Sinnoh. Going to Solaceon. Remember?

**Michael:** Hmm. Well, I'm just wondering, but why did you have her jump from Veilstone to Celestic, and then all the way across the map to Solaceon? I mean, honestly! It was very sudden and very pointless. No plot involved at all! I felt that it lacked proper story and support.

**Offyerrocker:** Well, yeah… That will all be explained in this next chapter! And if any of you readers notice anything-

**Michael:** [talking under breath] Yeah, all of five people.

**Offyerrocker:** [glares] If any of you readers notice anything, feel free to review, PM, or email me!

**Michael:** [muttering] Fat chance.

**Offyerrocker:** Can you spell "fur?"

**Michael:** Shutting up.

**Offyerrocker:** Okay. Good. Readers, please note that the Rockets tend to call Sarah and Michael by their species number. For example, -133 and -25 – Eevee and Pikachu.

But anyway, thanks for reading these notes. Or not.

…Seriously. I feed off of your reviews… and right now I'm starving…

* * *

** 11-Report**

The jumpy Rocket Scientist stood in front of Giovanni's desk, anxiously shuffling the papers in his hand.

"Umm… Sir…" he said nervously, not wanting to disturb the vicious Rocket Boss, or indeed, confront him at all.

"Yes? What is it this time?" Giovanni asked irritably. He didn't use the man's name; there was no need to, from his rank. Richard was not his name. His name was just "scientist" or "you."

"Um, when Sarah escaped…" he stammered.

"The specimen does not have a name. Names do not concern us in the lab," Giovanni said coldly, cutting him off. The scientist gulped.

"Um, yes sir! Sorry, sir!" the scientist cried. He gulped again. "Anyways, Subject 3141-133 took all of the vials when she left… we only have a copy of the formula on paper. The only actual vials were lost… when she… escaped…"

"Give me some good news."

"We're revising the formula, and various deviations and species. A new batch is coming in soon, sir. And we'll have formulas fir second and third stage evolutions."

"Explain."

"Yes, sir. You see, there is a section of DNA dedicated to breeding. In this section, there is a fragment of the Pokémon's original DNA. It remains the same Pokémon type even when the host Pokémon evolves. This is the only section we can currently use for the morphing process. Which means that, aside from baby Pokémon like Cleffa and Pichu, only first-stage evolution Pokémon may be selected for the formula. But soon, we'll have the formula for second-stage, third-stage evolutions and baby Pokémon morphing." The scientist smiled, glowing with pride.

"And how are the subjects for this project doing?"

The scientist's smile faltered. "In this project… subject numbers 5, 6, 7, and 10 have… erm… died." He checked the clipboard he held. "Autopsy records indicate specific causes of death. Number 3135 died due to complications from the formula. The formula back then was imperfect. Number 3136 died to morph species incompatibility. Number 3137 attempted suicide four times, and succeeded the fourth. And 3140 was subjected to the will-loss experimental formula. He lost his mind. We subjected him- it to different operations, to try to cure him, but he died from the pain. Subjects 3130, 3137, 3132, 3133, 3138 and 3139 are fine. They retain higher thought function, comprehensive skills, and a human mind in general. They are alive and healthy."

"Good. Now summarize the current generation. You said you hired a man to inject subject numbers3141-3143?"

"Yes, sir. He asked that his name remain anonymous, but he was paid ¥3,000,000 to do all three. First, we selected the three human subjects based on their genetic makeup and personality from psyche tests, which generated their likely Pokémon natures and species. In our tests, 3141-133 was as close to a perfect subject as humanly possible. 3142-25 was the second best candidate. Matching them up to Pokémon, we obtained samples from several of the best-"

"So 3141-133 happened to be one of our enemies, AND an ideal genetic candidate?"

"Apparently so, sir… extremely good luck. But anyway, we obtained samples from Pokémon clinics over Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh and used those samples to fuse to the base of the formula. Lastly, we added a final ingredient: inhibitors, or chemical timers. If a morph process went too fast, it could kill the candidates. The inhibitor's dosage was adjusted according to the subject's metabolism. For example, 3142-25 had the slowest metabolism, and many times the normal amount of the inhibitor was added to the customized formula. 3141-133, in contrast, reacted so quickly that we had to add a catalyst instead, to speed up the process, in accordance with her metabolism. Unfortunately, the pain and heightened senses were so great, we had to also add painkillers. Growing new flesh, bone, blood and cartilage is a painful process. And as I said before, subjects have died from pain. In fact, 3142's process was virtually painless, aside from the few minor aches. 3141's process left her in shock for a while. No doubt she lost consciousness, for a few minutes at least."

"Side-effects?"

"Just one, sir. The cocktail of chemicals can cause minor brain damage- little to no projected permanent effect. Actually, the only definite side effect is rapid blood pooling in the brain- kind of like a stroke. In short, an increased likelihood of fainting, or losing consciousness. And even then, it only lasts for a few days."

Giovanni's finger lazily hovered over the button that would call the guards in to dispose of him. The scientist saw this, turned pale, and cried out.

"Sir! Please! We've discovered where she is!"

Giovanni withdrew his hand. "Go on…"

"One of our people happened to see her and managed to use a quick Hypnosis with his Hypno-she thinks she's going to see a friend who can help. We couldn't do anything else- someone walked by and almost saw it. So the command was cut short. And the person waiting for her in the diner will actually be one of our men."

"Seeing a man? No. She would be instantly suspicious. We will use -25. She is likely to be more familiar, friendlier with a boy. Or awkward. But definitely more comfortable."

"Sir, with all due respect, -25 has proved extremely stubborn in the past. Further psychoanalytic tests suggest that he- it would rebel with the freedom given to him- it."

"I will catch -25 and assure its obedience. Just leave it to me."

"Very good, sir."

"Now tell me about the next generation of morphs, the ones in progress."

The scientist shifted uncomfortably, hesitating.

"I'm sorry, sir. I… don't have authorization to tell you."

"And who has higher power than me?!" Giovanni raged.

"…The Elite Four, sir." Giovanni stiffened. The Elite Four. They had sponsored his operations. In exchange for a few formulas and inventions. Normally, they would have refused. But this time, they had a common enemy. A group of people they wanted gone. Red, Blue, Yellow, Silver, Gold, Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. As Sarah and Michael. The Elite Four and Team Rocket, working together, had successfully lulled into a trap, and had become subject numbers 3130-3142, respectively.

It was a win-win situation. The Elite Four and Team Rocket had test subjects for a special experiment and funding from The Elite Four, who were one step closer to their own goal. And both groups had 11 less kids bringing down their plots.

But Giovanni still hated people with more power than him.

So he glared down at the scientist, daring the scientist to try to defy his word. "I'll give you a choice. Tell me, and you will live for at least another five minutes until The Elite Four find out. Don't and the next five minutes will be Hell on Earth, just for you.

The scientist didn't hesitate this time. He nodded vigorously.

"Good. Start with our next project."

* * *

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker:** Well thanks for reading!

Sorry this chapter was so long, and with one long conversation. But that's the way it goes. This chapter is vital in explaining the plot (YES! THERE IS A PLOT!) in Effort Value.

And never worry, never fear; the name's meaning will soon be clear. :D

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Please Read And Review!!

Next installment VERY soon!

-Offyerrocker


	12. Target

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker:** Oh hai!

**Sarah:** Vee!

**Michael:** O.O HOLY SH*T! WHY IS SHE TALKING LIKE THAT?

**Offyerrocker:** Well remember that formula thingy she took?

**Michael:** Yeah. Shouldn't you be able to remember the name of whatever it is she took anyway? After all, you did write this story.

**Sarah:** EEEVEEE!

**Offyerrocker:** Shush. Well let's get on with—

**Michael:** You haven't answered my question though.

**Offyerrocker:** Erm, you really shouldn't mumble, cos I can't hear a WORD you're saying. Anyway, it's been a while since I last uploaded.

**Michael:** Approximately half a year ago. Six months. Nobody noticed tho—

**Offyerrocker:** Hey, Michael? See how Sarah speaks right now?

**Sarah** VEEEEEEEE!

**Michael:** No crap. What of it?

**Offyerrocker:** Well you'll be able to understand her REALLY soon if you keep it up.

**Michael:** o.0

**Offyerrocker:** You know, somehow I just don't feel that these threats just aren't sufficient. I'll have to… **suspense** ADD SOME MORE TO EFFORT VALUE!

Sorry for the late (that's an understatement) update. I'm also juggling work on deviantArt, so excuse me. Helping with that other offyerrocker. (Imposter.)

* * *

**12- Target**

…

_Noises. _

…

_Loud noises. _

…_Humans?_

_Yes. Human voices. Human voices making noises…_

In an instant, the small, black-haired boy roused from his sleep, rising from the ground, eyes darting around the small alley, scanning his immediate surroundings, seeking out sounds. Adrenaline coursed through his veins. He always slept lightly for security's sake, and today, it had paid off. Who knows when a vulnerable little child may be targeted by some lowlife predator?

_Time? _He checked his watch. 00:00. Midnight. Probably no coincidence as to the timing.

His ears caught scraps of a whispered conversation: "…co-or…fir…d… …uh… ahead…" "Is … right…?" "…data…match…"

He instantly picked out at least three distinct voices and analyzed them.

_Male, mid 30s, approximately three known suspects. _

A series of identical clicks resounded through the obscurity of the night, and the boy identified them as Uzi sub-machineguns.

_Guns? _

_Lethal _violence against was rather sparse, really, anywhere in any region where there existed humans and Pokémon. (Bullets won't stop a roaring Flamethrower in your way, and firearms won't bark in case of an intruder.) Generally Pokémon were more common and more effective, both for offensive and defensive purposes. But unfortunately, it still wasn't quite absent from the lives of everyday people.

_People don't bring guns, especially ones like these, unless they intend to use them… And coordinated with perfect timing, at exactly 00:00, midnight… means these men are professionals. No screwing around here._

The boy peeled back the small cloth from his body, crawled slowly, stealthily, and- most importantly, silently- towards a small backpack filled with items especially prepared for various emergency situations, including this one. One couldn't be too careful…

Inside the bag was a portable med kit, a lock picking toolkit, a Swiss Army knife, and some emergency food and water rations, in the form of a couple handy MREs. All were purchased from a nearby army surplus store, with carefully amassed money (in various assorted spare change and a rare bill or two). There was even a small, unloaded service pistol and two additional clips stolen from a dormant police officer. (Sleeping on the job? He had it coming to him.)

The footsteps resounded increasingly closer to him- he took the pistol and the knife and dumped the other items in the backpack, slung it over his shoulder, and silently crept towards a nearby dumpster. The ground all around was littered with sand and dirt, except for a bare area accounted to its underage occupant. He grabbed a handful, shoving the pistol and the knife into separate pockets of his dirty cargo pants. Choosing carefully, he picked up a small chunk of broken pavement nearby with his other hand. Its irregular shape and fragile form would provide the most sound. He tossed the rock nearby, and it clattered on the concrete sidewalks and broke. There was a _swoosh_ as the men aimed their guns in the general direction of the sound (which was exactly away from the child's position), and at that moment he sprang up and threw dirt into the men's eyes and into the loaded mechanisms of their firearms. The combination of the Uzi model's inaccuracy, recoil, fragility (when exposed to the elements such as soil) contributed to their failure in the hands of the men holding them; the dirt in the men's eyes, their distraction, and the target's size ensured that every squeeze of the trigger was fruitless. Every shot fired in spite of this was either fired literally blind, or a miss, so the few shots which actually fired bounced off of the ledges of the two bordering buildings right back into the cluster of men.

As the group of operative spluttered, choked and cursed, their target sprinted out of the alley and away from his pursuers.

Behind him, one of the men in the squad made out a blur of skin outside the grit in his eyes, and managed to cough out enough of the sand in his lungs to splutter into a walkie-talkie on his belt.

By the time they looked up with clear vision, their target was long gone, and they stood in the dim yellow light of a streetlamp, surrounded by a multitude of shadows and possible escape routes.

Mission failed.

* * *

**(A/N): **Hey, sorry for the short update—just an alert to tell you guys that I'm still working on this.

I'm just a little preoccupied right now. _


	13. Thank You For Flying Air Sinnoh

**(A/N)**

**Offyerrocker:** Oh hai! Trying to get back into the writing groove.

I'm also trying to cut out the excess stuff from the Author's Notes—tell me what you think—any suggestions, comments, questions, anything! Private Message or review this story and I'll reply ASAP!

The Author's Notes were originally intended to add a tinge of humour to Effort Value's dark feel (I tried to write it that way... and failed miserably) and simultaneously, ever so subtly inform the readers of my thoughts.

Now it's mostly the latter, because I don't know how successful my vain efforts at humour have been. Probably not at all successful.

BUT THE POINT IS, they're kinda important, and sometimes your questions may be answered by reading them, and maybe more.

Sorry again for stalling the story's update- again, I have a real life, too. I'm not just improvising this though- that's not why its progress has been so slow. All of Effort Value is planned out, but it's absolutely vital that you readers out there express to me your thoughts. It's just that it takes a while to organise my thoughts and then revise the chapters, type them up, revise again... (albeit badly.) Long process... But writing is like that.

Writing is kinda… well…

It's not easy.

To better suit your interests as a reader, I'd appreciate any help or suggestions or spelling or grammar checks- I cannot stress this enough. Thanks to seedlo for pointing out some grammar errors, and Alex999139 for pointing out that Eevee cannot learn Defense Curl- I'll get to that in a bit, it was intentional and planned. (Actually I'd hope someone would notice.)

READ, ENJOY AND REVIEW! (that second one is... unlikely.)

CAMEO ALERT!

Also, please be aware that this Fic connects to the Pokémon MANGA universe, not the TV anime or the game… blegh. The anime hasn't been good since Generation I, Kanto, in my opinion.

So the minor cameo appearance of (Ash?) and the mention of _Gringy City_ from the anime in the chapter **A New Horror Every Day **were not really canon (ironic, and kinda oxymoronic in a fanfiction) to Effort Value.

Anyway, remember how in **Report** how they said that those characters were dead?  
SPOILER ALERT!

They're not.

It's actually a fairly convoluted plotline, already planned out, so assuming this modest little fanfiction is still attracting interest by then, the plot will be revealed.

Enjoy!

**13- Thank You For Flying Air Sinnoh**

I had been flying on the Staravia for hours. The wind stung my eyes, and my face was numb from the force of the cold wind.

Here's recap: A quarter of the way through the trip to Celestic from Veilstone, on Route 215, I'd narrowly evaded some Team Rocket and Team Galatic members in a skirmish on a bridge, and later, halfway through the journey on Route 210, some kid's Pikachu had fried the stolen bike. Trying to avoid all confrontation, I ditched the bike and fled the scene. (The name label had the name MISTY scrawled on it—I wondered if it was the same Misty as the famous Water-type Gym Leader.)

Stumbling through the forest (and managing to completely miss the path), I somehow managed to find a wild Staravia, and, after a few tries, befriended it and convinced it to take me to Celestic by bribing it with a few berries. Having friends who were Pokémon Rangers helped.

I was already tired from biking nonstop from Veilstone, and the process of befriending a wild Staravia without a Capture Styler was tiring in itself, so when my eyelids began to droop, I cursed myself for not bringing along some other supplies. I struggled to stay awake, but it was hopeless—that kind of strain requires rest. So I gave up and fell asleep.

And then, the next thing I knew, I was falling out of the sky. Grey wisps of cloud rocketed at an incredible rate to my right, outlined by a dark blue sky streaked with the vivid orange of a sunset, and I realized that I was freefalling _sideways. _Staravia must have fallen asleep—I don't blame her; it's a long time to fly nonstop. She appeared to float above me, eyes closed.

Looking down, panicking, I saw the end of the forest ahead of me, knew I would land somewhere in the forest, and tried to force myself to calm down. It didn't work—It's pretty hard to calm down when you're plummeting towards hard, unforgiving earth without any means of rescue. Last I knew, I was flying at 500 feet, so falling at a maximum of 9.8 meters/second, I had about… 15 seconds before the inevitable impact. I shook my head. _Math, at a time like this… insane._

I racked my brain, searching for any hidden nugget of information that might save my tail, sifting through Eevee's known moves; it was a slim chance that I would remember anything useful, in Eevee's weak moveset or otherwise, and even less that I could use any of those moves, but I REALLY did not want to dig my own grave via gravity.

Besides, I had used Bide and Defense Curl… right?

_10 seconds… _The view would have been quite beautiful if I hadn't been facing imminent death.

_Think!_

_Baton Pass—only good when switching out of battle; Bite—useless; Charm—what, Charm the ground? No… Covet—equally useless… _

_7 seconds… _A clearing presented itself directly below me, looking relatively soft, but still not that friendly.

_**THINK!**_

_Curse—self-detrimental; Detect—only good for attacks; Dig—I don't think so... Endure, Flail—I already AM FLAILING… _

_5 seconds… _The clearing grew larger, engulfing my vision.

_WAIT! Endure! I need to Endure this!_

_3 seconds…_The treeline disappeared, shrinking from the corners of my vision.

_But how do I _use_ a move?_

The description of Endure ran through my mind as I concentrated on using the move.

_Endures any attack for one turn, leaving at least 1 HP._

_One second; _The ground rushed up to meet me, and I made out individual stalks of grass. The fear was almost paralyzing.

Next to me, Staravia opened her eyes and blinked, puzzled that the earth beneath her appeared to be having a growth spurt.

_I really hope I survive this._

_Zero sec—_

**(A/N): Offyerrocker:** Short chapters—I'm still getting into the groove of writing these.

Again, any comments or questions or anything, feel free to contact me!

I'd also like to see how many people are actually interested in this—if I don't get enough people I might just shut down this project, it's kinda amateurish… It doesn't appear to attract many people.

I mean, I don't expect this to become famous, but if there's nobody reading this, there's really no point in updating this, is there?

_So if you can just leave a comment or a review or an email or something, just to show me how many people are reading this, I'd really appreciate it!_

_Because I'm hoping to revise Effort Value and reupload(edit/replace) the chapters. It'd make the story easier to read for people in the future._

_SHOULD THE STORY BE "CANCELLED," I WILL IMPLEMENT A SHORTER, PRE-PLANNED SUBSTITUTE ENDING, TYING UP ALL LOOSE ENDS, BUT I'LL WARN YOU, IT WON'T BE VERY SATISFYING!_

(Actually I'm begging for them… Please? They're kinda vital to the continuation of Effort Value...) PLEASEPLEASEPLEASE! I NEEEEEED REVIEWS TO LIVE! AND SO DOES SARAH!

**Sarah:** Yeah! Do you really want me to die? I DON'T WANNA DIE! PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW!

**Target (kid#3):** Also, I'm a homage to Orson Scott Card's character Bean from Ender's Shadow. I don't own Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow, any of the series, or Pokémon, so please don't sue me... anyway, more about me will be explained soon, provided Effort Value hasn't died of Review Starvation Syndrome or Excessive, Trademarked/Copyrighted Lawsuit Disease.

**Michael:** Hey readers! (HI MOM!) I'm just here for kicks! And the kid from Target is the third kid mentioned in Effort Value's description. Like he said in the non-canon comment above, more will be explained soon!

…Offyerrocker is the master of stalling/suspense.

**Offyerrocker:** Yep! Also, readers: Reviews are the only indication I have that people are interested in this story… R, E&R! Read, enjoy (optional and improbable), and Review!

Seeya next chapter, hopefully!


	14. Chapter 14

Don't you just love it when a mediocre story you've been reading stops at a cliffhanger, goes on hiatus, and does not update for 5 years?

Me too!

Actually this is rather embarrassing. I had honestly intended to update more, but in the end I just wasn't good enough.

(/hurtlocker I'M SORRY, MAN! I WASN'T GOOD ENOUGH! I'M SORRY!)

I bet all the people following this haven't even used FF anymore anyway, so it's just as well.

I'll wrap this up quickly. I'm quite eager to continue with new projects (albeit under a new name. Catch me if you can.) Can you say "unsatisfactory?"


End file.
